[SatNews] Honeywell Aerospace has signed a Memorandum of Arrangement with Inmarsat to be a hardware provider for government and military customers looking to access Inmarsat’s commercial global, high-speed connectivity Global Xpress services.

This arrangement is an expansion to the existing relationship between the two companies for Honeywell to exclusively develop, produce and distribute commercial hardware for GX Aviation. To specifically address government requirements, Honeywell is developing new products under the JetWave product family to support Inmarsat’s government Global Xpress services. Global Xpress is the first global commercial Ka-band network and has been built specifically with government and military use in mind. It will deliver secure, end-to-end wideband connectivity for seamless airborne, naval and land operations on a global basis by the first half of next year. Honeywell JetWave hardware delivers high-speed data for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms, giving access to true high-throughput connectivity for sharing information, downloading the latest data and keeping personnel informed during critical missions.

“As government missions expand around the world and the need for access to fast and dependable data grows, wideband high-throughput connectivity is necessary to keep personnel informed and ready,” said Jack Jacobs, vice president, Marketing & Product Management, Honeywell Aerospace. “Honeywell’s connectivity experience is unmatched in the industry. We’re providing access to the first truly global, high-speed connectivity network for our business and commercial aviation customers, and now our government customers will have the same access.”

“Building on our partnership with Honeywell for commercial GX Aviation, Inmarsat is pleased to now also be working with Honeywell on the development of airborne terminals designed specifically for government users. Honeywell’s hardware expertise in this market is a tremendous advantage to government users, providing the best possible tools for their mission readiness and execution worldwide,” said Peter Hadinger, president of Inmarsat’s U.S. government business unit.

The first Inmarsat-5 Global Xpress satellite entered commercial service with United States government customers within its Indian Ocean Region coverage area on July 1, 2014. The entry into service came shortly after the completion of extensive satellite and end-user tests. Honeywell participated in the user test and also successfully validated the performance on both the High-Capacity Military and Global Service Beams with Honeywell equipment, marking an important milestone for the two companies to deliver the next generation of wideband high-throughput data to government and military customers across the globe.